Awesomeness

The process of installing the monument was so interesting to watch.  You wonder how they do it when the stone is so heavy.  They have all these nifty tools that they use very precisely.  The entire process from start to finish took about 3 hours.  By the time it was over, Buzzy and I were Popsicles.

The monument came in 3 pieces, and as they were setting it up, I'm thinking "Oh my, this is quite big.  I LOVE THAT!"  And when the base is installed, it will be 10 inches higher.  Yay!!  I wanted it to dwarf everything else in that cemetery.  I know that's awful to say, but it's Aislinn's place, no matter who else is buried there, it's her place.

When I began the process of creating ideas for the stone, I walked through both sides of the cemetery a couple of times.  The first time I went through it, I loudly proclaimed "Francis Cemetery, watch out, I'm jazzin this place up!!"  The second time was to see who her neighbors were.  That probably seems odd, but when you don't have a lot, you find yourself doing those sorts of things.  One of the stones in our section is literally a piece of rock, tilting to one side because there's no base for it.  It's for someone who hasn't even been dead very long.  Then there's another one on the upper side that is just a piece of wood somebody carved into by hand.  It broke my heart to see both of those.  To know that the person's loved ones, if there even were any, couldn't do much.

The monument was my concept, from start to finish.  All that is engraved on it, came from my brain.  I went through a few different ideas before I settled on the final version.  They can do some pretty cool things with solar lighting and monuments.  I saw something online that gave me the idea to have a stone carved like a person hunched down or sitting, and it would glow a little bit, so it would scare the hell out of people driving by, thinking it was a ghost.  Buzzy didn't like that idea one bit, so I got shot down.  I told him that if our daughter was any part of me, she'd find that freaking hilarious.  Well, maybe I'll just make that my stone.  He can't veto me on that!

Not sure what people know and don't know, but we have 8 spaces in our family plot.  We call it "The Plot".  This will be important to know later.  We're still deciding on our nickname for the cemetery.  We're doing that because Caren brought a story to our attention and we really appreciated the idea.  We don't want to always have to say we're going to the cemetery, so we're creating a name for the place that will be our own.

Next year we will be installing a bench for the family plot.  This bench will be an extension of Aislinn's space.  We are inviting everyone in the family to create something to put on it.  Anything you want at all.  It's a year away, but you can begin planning what you want to put on there at any time.  The only part that is already taken is the top of the bench, the seat.  But everywhere else is up for grabs.  I'll post a picture of the bench we've selected as soon as I can find it again.

If you go to visit Aislinn and you bring flowers, make note that the vase that was supposed to be a part of the monument was overlooked by the quarry and the monument company will be adding it in the spring when they add the sub base too.

Aislinn's Mailbox is being painted right now, and we'll get it installed as soon as it's done.  When it's up, you can put things you feel like leaving for her, in there.

The grounds manager at Buzzy's work offered to do some special landscaping for us in the spring/summer.  So, we'll look forward to that.

Well, I guess that's enough talk of stone, plots, and dead people.

Here's a shout out to Aislinn and Friends.  We wish you were here where we could see and touch you, but we'll settle for hearing, feeling and knowing you're near us.  Thanks for the help with everyone today, it was almost too easy.  ;)